+ImpaKT
nicsell is a German domain auction and backorder (drop-catching) platform operated by DomainProfi GmbH, serving domain investors, brand owners, and startups across Europe with 1.84M+ listed domains across hundreds of TLDs.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersWindhof, Austria
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What +ImpaKT does
nicsell is a domain auction and backorder platform operated by DomainProfi GmbH, a privately held German company founded in 2014 and headquartered in Osnabrück. As an accredited DENIC registrar, nicsell provides a drop-catching service that captures expired domain names during the Redemption Grace Period (RGP) quarantine phase with millisecond-level execution — an operation that requires direct registry access and cannot be replicated by non-registrars. The platform aggregates 1,840,451 domains across hundreds of TLDs including .de, .eu, .at, .nl, .fr, .com, .ai, and .io, and supports both standard auctions and Dutch (descending-price) auctions, with live real-time bidding, configurable increment buttons, and auction-extension logic.
The business operates three revenue streams: buyer-side auction fees on successfully caught/registered domains, a 10% seller-side commission on its peer-to-peer nicsell Trading marketplace for already-registered domains, and additional fees for post-auction (late) bids and priority/boost services. Payments are processed via PayPal, Mollie, and Stripe; identity verification is handled by Sumsub to comply with Germany's Money Laundering Act and the NIS-2 Directive. The platform is localized into six European languages and serves three primary customer segments: domain investors and traders (primary), brand owners and enterprises seeking brand protection, and startups/digital businesses seeking premium keyword-rich domains. The company is founder/management-owned, with Martin Steinkamp serving as Managing Director, and shows no evidence of external institutional investment.
+ImpaKT firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- +ImpaKT
- Legal name
- DomainProfi GmbH
- Website
- https://positiveimpakt.eu
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- nicsell is a German domain auction and backorder (drop-catching) platform operated by DomainProfi GmbH, serving domain investors, brand owners, and startups across Europe with 1.84M+ listed domains across hundreds of TLDs.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
+ImpaKT industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Domain Auctions and Backorder Services
- NAICS
- Lessors of Nonfinancial Intangible Assets (except Copyrighted Works) (53311), Directory and Mailing List Publishers (513140)
- SIC
- Patent Owners & Lessors (6794)
- akta.pro primary industry
- IP Search, Watch & Competitive Intelligence (BPAHAMAI)
Keywords
Where +ImpaKT is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Windhof
- HQ country
- Austria
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
+ImpaKT business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Domain Auction Fees (Buyer Side): Buyers pay the winning auction bid amount for domains won through the backorder/catching service. Payment is due within 14 days of contract conclusion. If the domain cannot be registered, no fees are charged. Multiple payment methods via PayPal, Mollie, and Stripe.
- Marketplace Commission (Seller Side): nicsell charges sellers a 10% commission fee on domain sales conducted through the nicsell Trading marketplace. Invoices for marketplace transactions are identifiable by the 'TH' prefix in the invoice number. The remaining 90% is disbursed to the seller.
- Exclusive Domain Sales: Exclusive domains are already registered domains offered on the marketplace by current owners. The auction process begins without a quarantine/catching phase, and the buyer pays the winning bid as the purchase price.
- Post-Auction and Priority Bid Services: Post-auction bids (late bids placed after auction end, minimum 50 EUR) and priority/boost bids to increase registration success chances are charged separately as additional fees on top of winning auction amounts.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Standard auction minimum bid |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Marketplace commission fee (nicsell Trading) |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Post-auction (late) bid fee |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Premium domain reserve prices |
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels4 records
+ImpaKT product offering
Product offeringCore offering
nicsell operates a domain auction and backorder (drop catcher) platform where registered enterprisers can bid on expiring domain names during the RGP (Redemption Grace Period) quarantine phase; winning bidders have the domain automatically registered to them via nicsell's DENIC/EURid/nic.at registrar integrations. The platform also includes nicsell Trading, a peer-to-peer marketplace for buying and selling already-registered (exclusive) domains, where nicsell charges a 10% commission on completed sales.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- nicsell Backorder / Drop Catcher Service
- nicsell Domain Auction Platform
- nicsell Trading Marketplace
- Exclusive Domain Sales
Companies that use +ImpaKT
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
+ImpaKT technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature6 records
+ImpaKT partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- DENIC eG (German Domain Registry)corenicsell is a DENIC registrar, enabling it to directly register .de domains and perform RGP catching operations. This registry partnership is the foundational technical capability that allows nicsell to offer its backorder/drop catcher service.
- EURid (European Domain Registry)corenicsell integrates with EURid for .eu domain registration, enabling the platform to offer .eu domain auctions and catching services alongside its DENIC-based .de operations.
- nic.at (Austrian Domain Registry)corenicsell integrates with nic.at to offer .at domain auctions. Quarantine period for .at domains is 58 days.
- IdentityDigital (formerly Donuts/Afilias)corenicsell offers auctions for IdentityDigital TLDs (e.g., .ai, .io, .academy, .agency, .company, .digital, .email, .market, etc.). These domains are often released via registry auctions rather than direct deletion, which nicsell participates in on behalf of customers.
- PayPal (Europe) S.à.r.l. et Cie, S.C.A.corePayment service provider for processing domain auction payments. Supports PayPal Checkout as one of the primary payment methods alongside Mollie and Stripe.
- Mollie B.V.coreDutch payment service provider used for processing payments on the nicsell platform. Supports multiple payment methods. Not available for marketplace orders.
- Stripe Payments Europe, Ltd.corePayment service provider for processing domain auction payments on the nicsell platform. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.
- Sum and Substance Ltd. (Sumsub)coreExternal KYC/identity verification service provider used by nicsell to comply with Money Laundering Act and NIS-2 Directive requirements. Also used for credit checks and individual customer communication.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
+ImpaKT competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Namecheap Marketplace: Namecheap operates a domain aftermarket and registrar with its own auction features. It is a broad incumbent peer offering overlapping backorder and marketplace capabilities, with significantly larger customer scale and global distribution.
- GoDaddy Auctions / SnapNames: GoDaddy operates the largest domain aftermarket globally and owns SnapNames, a drop-catching and auction platform. It is a broad incumbent that competes with nicsell on multi-TLD backorder/auction services, though it is far larger and not specialized in European ccTLDs.
- Afternic (GoDaddy): Afternic is a major domain name resale marketplace owned by GoDaddy, directly comparable to nicsell Trading for peer-to-peer domain sales with commission-based monetization. It serves as a broad incumbent peer with greater distribution and registrar integration.
- Sedo: Sedo is the largest global domain marketplace and brokerage, operating a peer-to-peer trading platform and auction services analogous to nicsell Trading. It is a broad incumbent peer that overlaps on marketplace commission economics but spans all TLDs globally and offers brokerage services nicsell does not.
Emerging players
- Dan.com: Dan.com is a domain marketplace focused on streamlined buyer-seller transactions with installment payments and a modern UX. It is an emerging peer to nicsell Trading's marketplace, particularly competing for premium and brandable domain resale volume.
- BrandBucket: BrandBucket is a marketplace specializing in brandable business names and domains for startups. It is an emerging player adjacent to nicsell's startup and brand-owner segments, with overlapping demand drivers but a more curated, name-brand focus.
- Undeveloped: Undeveloped is a curated domain marketplace for premium, brandable, and short domains. It is an emerging peer focused on the higher-value segment of the same market nicsell serves via its exclusive domain and marketplace offerings.
Direct peers
- NameJet: NameJet is a backorder service jointly operated by several major registrars (including Network Solutions and others) that competes directly with nicsell's drop-catching capability, particularly for .com, .net, and .org. It is a direct peer in expired-domain acquisition auctions.
- Pool.com: Pool.com is a long-standing domain backorder and drop-catching platform offering expired-domain acquisition services. It is a direct peer to nicsell in the backorder/auction category, with comparable technology and a similar target market of domain investors and brand owners.
- DropCatch: DropCatch is one of the leading dedicated domain backorder and drop-catching platforms, directly competing with nicsell on expired-domain catching across multiple TLDs. It is a direct peer on the same technology stack (registrar integrations, real-time bidding) but is focused on the .com/.net space rather than European ccTLDs.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
+ImpaKT social profiles
Digital presence+ImpaKT financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
+ImpaKT leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
+ImpaKT funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
+ImpaKT M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about +ImpaKT
What does +ImpaKT do?
nicsell operates a domain auction and backorder (drop catcher) platform where registered enterprisers can bid on expiring domain names during the RGP (Redemption Grace Period) quarantine phase; winning bidders have the domain automatically registered to them via nicsell's DENIC/EURid/nic.at registrar integrations. The platform also includes nicsell Trading, a peer-to-peer marketplace for buying and selling already-registered (exclusive) domains, where nicsell charges a 10% commission on completed sales.
Is +ImpaKT a public or private company?
+ImpaKT is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was +ImpaKT founded?
+ImpaKT was founded in 2014. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is +ImpaKT based?
+ImpaKT is headquartered in Windhof, Austria, in the Europe region.
How does +ImpaKT make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Domain Auction Fees (Buyer Side) is the primary driver. The others are marketplace Commission (Seller Side), exclusive Domain Sales and post-Auction and Priority Bid Services.
Who are +ImpaKT's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Namecheap Marketplace, GoDaddy Auctions / SnapNames, Afternic (GoDaddy) and Sedo. Emerging players are Dan.com, BrandBucket and Undeveloped. Direct peers are NameJet, Pool.com and DropCatch.
Does +ImpaKT have an API?
No public API is recorded for +ImpaKT.
What industry is +ImpaKT in?
+ImpaKT's product category is Domain Auctions and Backorder Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAHAMAI, IP Search, Watch & Competitive Intelligence. Its NAICS code is 53311 and its SIC code is 6794.